GSB is the ultimate space strategy game. It's a strategy / management / simulation game that does away with all the base building and delays and gets straight to the meat and potatoes of science-fiction games : The big space battles fought by huge spaceships with tons of laser beams and things going 'zap!', 'ka-boom!' and 'ka-pow!'.

In GSB you put your ships together from modular components, arrange them into fleets, give your ships orders of engagement and then hope they emerge victorious from battle (or at least blow to bits in aesthetically pleasing ways).

Gratuitous Space Battles aims to bring the over-the-top explodiness back into space strategy games. The game is for everyone who has watched big space armadas battle it out on TV and thought to themselves 'I could have done a much better job as admiral'. This is not a game of real-time arcade twitch reflexes. GSB is about what ships you design, and what you tell them to do. Your individual ship commanders have total autonomy during the chaotic battle that unfolds. This is not a tactical game, it is a strategic one. These gratuitous space battles are not won by plucky heroes with perfect teeth, but by the geeky starship builders who know exactly what ratio of plasma-cannons to engines each ship in the fleet will need.

GSB has both a singleplayer mode, and a cunning 'asynchronous' multiplayer mode, where you upload a 'challenge' containing your fleet (complete with your custom ship designs and each ships orders of engagement) either to openly challenge all other GSB players, or aimed at a specific player you know. The game has a challenge browser and history which shows you who accepted your challenge, and whether they won or lost, and players can rank each others fleets for both fun and difficulty.

If fighting against a fixed fleet of enemy ships (either the default game missions in three difficulties, or player-made challenges) isn't your thing, then GSB also has two 'survival mode' maps. In these battles, your fleet is helplessly outnumbered by wave after wave of enemies that warp in and attack you. Your fleet's final defeat is certain, but how many enemy ships will you blast to atoms before you go down with your ship? Check out the scores to see how other players have fared.

Still not sure? Then just grab our demo direct from us now and be playing within minutes. Your space fleet awaits.

I agree half with Big Bill, and half with Dara. They covered most of the main points. While a fun, creative, and interesting game, it loses its appeal after a little while. But still worth it.

Dara(8/9/2010 - version 1.42)

I won't say this is the best game out there, but I for one truly enjoyed it. It's very moddable, and while the mac port is still not quite up to speed with the PC version, it has its own charm.
It suits a specific type of gamer, mind you- if you enjoy building ships and making them explode other ships- that is, strategizing about ship loadouts rather than their positions on the field- this is likely the game for you. If you enjoy modding said games and adding your own unique vessels and modules, this is also the game for you. If you want direct control over conflicts in every way, like in an RTS, this is not that game. I, for one, quite enjoy a bit of random chaos in my battles.
And it at least lives up to its name. It promises nothing other than what it is: A buncha rather gratuitous battles without the boredom of base-building.
Also, it's indy funded, so wow, you don't even have to fork fifty dollars over to some corporate producer to have your fun. The concept may not be the most original- except for stacking fleets against one another in battles as being the main feature rather than a byproduct of space battle strategy.
Five joy stick icons from a satisfied customer.

Big Bill Brassky(8/7/2010 - version 1.42)

Kind of fun, but loses its appeal after a while. The various ship designs are cool-looking, but it's all cosmetic. The ships don't really maneuver (fighters being the exception), they just sort of get closer to each other until they're in range and blast away at each other. If you're expecting to re-enact some of the major fleet battles from Star Trek or anything like that, you will probably be disappointed.
That said, watching ships blast each other to pieces can be a fun way to kill 15-20 minutes.